Trump is planning to allow more discrimination against LGBTQ people

The Trump Administration is working on a formal religious exemption to rules that ban federal contractors from discriminating against LGBTQ people, according to a several unnamed Labor Department sources who spoke with Buzzfeed News.

According to the sources, the White House is working on a policy that would allow federal contractors to discriminate against workers if the contractor claims that their religion requires them to discriminate against LGBTQ people.

The sources did not know if the exception would be limited to federal contractors that are religious – like a Catholic charity – or if it applies to for-profit businesses. Conservatives favor religious exemptions for for-profit businesses like Hobby Lobby and Masterpiece Cakeshop, claiming that a religious business owner’s beliefs are violated if their business violates them.

The Office of Management and Budget posted a notice on Wednesday on its website that the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) at the Department of Labor “plans to update its regulations to comply with current law regarding protections for religion-exercising organizations.”

Earlier this year, the Department of Justice announced a “Religious Liberty Task Force.” While Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s announcement didn’t say that federal anti-discrimination rules would change, the task force is intended to give more weight to religious freedom arguments used to advocate for religious exemptions.